Termination of wireless communication uplink periods to facilitate reception of other wireless communications

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure describes systems and techniques relating to wireless communications by devices that employ more than one wireless communication technology. According to an aspect of the described systems and techniques, a device includes: a first radio configured to communicate wirelessly with a first station in accordance with a first wireless communication technology, a second radio configured to communicate wirelessly with a second station in accordance with a second wireless communication technology, a controller configured to (i) terminate scheduled portions of time for sending communications from the first radio to the first station in favor of receiving communications from the second station to the second radio and (ii) restrict which of all available scheduled portions of time for sending communications from the first radio to the first station are provided for termination based on information about types of data transmitted in respective ones of the available scheduled portions of time.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of the priority of U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 61/807,149, filed Apr. 1, 2013 and entitled“PUNCTURE OF INTERFERING UL SUBFRAMES TO FACILITATE IDC”, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure describes systems and techniques relating towireless communications by devices that employ more than one wirelesscommunication technology.

Wireless communication devices can use one or more wirelesscommunication technologies, such as code division multiple access(CDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), singlecarrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), and time divisionsynchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA). Other examples ofwireless technologies include WCDMA (Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess), CDMA2000, UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System),GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), High Speed Packet Access(HSPA), WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), LTE(Long-Term Evolution, often referred to as 4G), WiFi (wireless localarea network standards), and Bluetooth (BT). Various examples ofwireless communication devices include mobile phones, smartphones,wireless routers, wireless hubs, base stations, and access points. Insome cases, wireless communication electronics are integrated with dataprocessing equipment such as laptops, personal digital assistants, andcomputers.

A wireless device (or the portion of the device that provides end-to-endcommunications) is often referred to as user equipment (UE) in UMTS and3GPP LTE. In some wireless networks, each wireless device synchronizeswith one or more base stations, such as an evolved Node B (eNB), forwireless communications between the device and the station. In additionto the user data communicated in such networks, network management datais also communicated, which includes both downlink (DL) and uplink (UL)control information. For example, LTE uses uplink control information(UCI) and the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmissionprotocol.

In HARQ, error correction bits, such as forward error correction (FEC)bits, are included in a data transmission. When a message is received,error detection information can be used to identify success or failurefor decoding of the message. The wireless communication device can sendan acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK) based onthe success or failure of the decoding. This lets the transmitter of themessage know whether the message was received successfully or should beretransmitted. The message can be retransmitted as many times asnecessary, but in typical wireless networks there will be a limit placedon the number of attempted retransmissions.

In addition, a typical wireless device will implement two or morewireless technologies and so have radios that need to coexist with eachother in the same device. For example, LTE UE may coexist with otherradios in a device, which is noted in LTE as in-device coexistence(IDC). Other radios' receiving performance may be significantly degradedby LTE uplink transmission from UE if the operating bands of LTE and theother radios are too close. Examples are the ISM (Industrial Scientificand Medical) band at 2400-2480 MHz (for BT and WiFi) and the LTE band 40at 2300-2400 MHz. Thus, some coordination between LTE and other radiosis desired so the LTE UE can stop transmission while another radio isreceiving important information.

Current approaches to such coordination include: (1) the use of guardbands and filtering, such that LTE UE transmission and other radios'reception can happen at the same time; (2) priority-based puncture,where a device controller punctures LTE uplink subframes (i.e., gives upLTE uplink transmission) when there is some critical information thatmust be received by other radios; (3) scheduled puncture, where a moreadvanced eNB can inform LTE UE which uplink subframes are not scheduledto transmit information; and (4) random puncture, where a devicecontroller randomly punctures uplink subframes, and allows other radiosto receive in these subframes. Further, it has been suggested thatcoexistence of wireless technologies, such as LTE with BT, would benefitfrom alignment of subframe and slot boundaries of the respectivewireless technologies.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure describes systems and techniques relating towireless communications. According to an aspect of the described systemsand techniques, a device includes: a first radio configured tocommunicate wirelessly with a first station in accordance with a firstwireless communication technology, a second radio configured tocommunicate wirelessly with a second station in accordance with a secondwireless communication technology, a controller configured to (i)terminate scheduled portions of time for sending communications from thefirst radio to the first station in favor of receiving communicationsfrom the second station to the second radio and (ii) restrict which ofall available scheduled portions of time for sending communications fromthe first radio to the first station are provided for termination basedon information about types of data transmitted in respective ones of theavailable scheduled portions of time.

The information used by the device can include hybrid automatic repeatrequest (HARQ) processes and uplink control information (UCI). Thecontroller can be configured to restrict the scheduled portions of timeavailable for termination by, without cooperation from the firststation, not using all retransmission opportunities in a retransmissionrequest protocol between the device and the first station using thefirst radio. In addition, the controller can be configured to restrictthe scheduled portions of time available for termination based on HARQprocesses.

The first wireless communication technology can be an LTE (Long-TermEvolution) wireless communication technology. The available scheduledportions of time can be subframes. The controller can be configured torestrict uplink subframes made available for puncture to evenlydistribute puncture of the uplink subframes among different HARQprocesses. Moreover, the device can include a memory, wherein thecontroller is configured to restrict uplink subframes made available forpuncture based on results stored in the memory, the results being of aprior off-line search for puncture patterns based on HARQ processes.

The information used by the device can include uplink controlinformation (UCI), and the controller can be configured to restrict thescheduled portions of time available for termination based on the UCI toreduce downlink performance degradation of communications from the firststation to the first radio. Further, the controller can be configured toexclude periods from the scheduled portions of time made available fortermination in favor of receiving communications from the second stationto the second radio, wherein the excluded periods include all periodsscheduled for transmission of acknowledgements (ACKs) from the firstradio to the first station and at least a portion of periods scheduledfor transmission of channel state information (CSI).

According to another aspect of the described systems and techniques, amethod performed for two or more radios coexisting in a singlecommunications device includes: sending, by the single device using afirst radio of the two or more radios, data in uplink periods designatedfor the first radio communicating with a first station; determining,based on uplink control information for the first radio, a proper subsetof uplink periods designated for the first radio communicating with thefirst station; favoring puncture of the proper subset of uplink periodsover remaining uplink periods designated for the first radiocommunicating with the first station; selecting, by the single device,one or more of the proper subset of uplink periods for puncture; andreceiving, by the single device using a second radio of the two or moreradios, data from a second station during the one or more punctureduplink periods.

The determining can include determining the proper subset based at leastin part on retransmission request processes. The determining can includeautonomously, by the single device, not using all retransmissionopportunities in a retransmission request protocol between the singledevice and the first station using the first radio. Further, the uplinkperiods can be uplink subframes, and the favoring can include evenlydistributing puncture of the uplink subframes among different hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ) processes.

The determining can include retrieving the proper subset, which is aresult of off-line searching for puncture patterns based on hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ) processes, and the favoring can includemaking only uplink periods in the proper subset available for puncture.The favoring can include reducing downlink performance degradation ofcommunications from the first station to the first radio resulting frompuncture of uplink periods. Moreover, the favoring can include excludingfrom being available for puncture (i) all uplink periods used foracknowledgements (ACKs) from the first radio to the first station, and(ii) at least a portion of uplink periods used for channel stateinformation (CSI).

According to another aspect of the described systems and techniques, asystem includes: a base station configured to wirelessly communicatewith a first set of mobile devices, including a given mobile device; anaccess point configured to wirelessly communicate with a second set ofmobile devices, including the given mobile device; and the given mobiledevice including coexisting radios configured to communicate with thebase station and the access point using respective, different wirelesscommunication technologies, and means for restricting which uplinkperiods used between the given mobile device and the base station areavailable for puncture, in favor of reception from the access point,based on information about types of data transmitted in respective onesof the uplink periods used between the given mobile device and the basestation. The information can include hybrid automatic repeat request(HARQ) processes and uplink control information (UCI), and the wirelesscommunication technologies can be an LTE (Long-Term Evolution) wirelesscommunication technology and a Bluetooth (or other) wirelesscommunication technology, respectively.

The described systems and techniques can be implemented in electroniccircuitry, computer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations ofthem, such as the structural means disclosed in this specification andstructural equivalents thereof. This can include at least onecomputer-readable medium embodying a program operable to cause one ormore data processing apparatus (e.g., a signal processing deviceincluding a programmable hardware processor) to perform operationsdescribed. Thus, program implementations can be realized from adisclosed method, system, or apparatus, and apparatus implementationscan be realized from a disclosed system, computer-readable medium, ormethod. Similarly, method implementations can be realized from adisclosed system, computer-readable medium, or apparatus, and systemimplementations can be realized from a disclosed method,computer-readable medium, or apparatus.

For example, the disclosed embodiment(s) below can be implemented invarious systems and apparatus, including, but not limited to, a specialpurpose data processing apparatus (e.g., a wireless access point, aremote environment monitor, a router, a switch, a computer systemcomponent, a medium access unit), a mobile data processing apparatus(e.g., a wireless client, a cellular telephone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a mobile computer, a digital camera), a general purposedata processing apparatus (e.g., a minicomputer, a server, a mainframe,a supercomputer), or combinations of these.

The described systems and techniques can result in one or more of thefollowing advantages. Protection from interference between two wirelessradios (e.g., interference between LTE UE UL transmission signals andWiFi reception) can be implemented with less cost. The described systemsand techniques can be much less expensive than the use of guard bandsand filtering, which may not be completely within the wireless device'scontrol. In some cases, no upgrades are needed as the wireless stations(e.g., LTE eNB and WiFi access point) since the protection can beimplemented autonomously by the wireless device communicating with suchstations. While communications with one of the stations (e.g., LTE eNB)may be degraded, a complete receiving failure at the station (e.g., LTEeNB) is avoided. Moreover, in some implementations, the describedsystems and techniques can be implemented in program code added toexisting wireless devices, without requiring changes in hardware.

Details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and the description below. Other features and advantages may beapparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

DRAWING DESCRIPTIONS

FIG. 1A shows an example of a wireless communication system.

FIG. 1B shows an example of processing hardware for user equipment in awireless communication network.

FIG. 2A shows an example of a wireless communication frame.

FIG. 2B shows an example of wireless communication transmissions betweena wireless device and two wireless stations.

FIG. 3A is a flowchart showing an example of uplink period puncture forfirst-type wireless communications in favor of second-type wirelesscommunications.

FIG. 3B is a flowchart showing an example of restricting uplink periodsmade available for puncture.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1A shows an example of a wireless communication system 100. In thisexample, only two specific examples of wireless technologies arediscussed: LTE and WiFi. However, as will be appreciated, other wirelesstechnologies can be added to the system 100, such as other mobilecommunication technologies (MCT), Bluetooth (BT) and Near FieldCommunication (NFC) technologies. Likewise, other wireless technologiescan replace those described in the system 100, such as replacing LTEwith other MCT (e.g., HSPA, HSPA, WCDMA, CDMA2000, UMTS, GSM, etc.) andreplacing WiFi with other wireless local area network (WLAN)technologies.

The wireless communication system 100 can include one or more cellularnetworks made up of a number of radio cells, or cells that are eachserved by a base station, such as evolved Node B (eNB) base stations115. The cells are used to cover different areas in order to provideradio coverage over a wide area. Wireless communication devices operatein the cellular radio coverage areas that are served by the basestations, such as a device 105. The wireless communication system 100shown in FIG. 1A includes three base stations 115 (other numbers of basestations are of course possible) included in a radio access network(RAN) that is known as an evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network(eUTRAN). In the LTE example of FIG. 1A, the base stations are shown aseNB base stations 115, and the eUTRAN includes the eNB base stations115.

A base station 115 can operate in a mobile environment such as afemto-cell, pico-cell, or the base station 115 can operate as a nodethat can relay signals for other mobile and/or base stations. Basestations 115 can provide wireless services to one or more wirelesscommunication devices 105. Base stations 115 can communicate with eachother and with a core network called an evolved packet core (EPC) 120.The EPC 120 can provide wireless communication devices with access toone or more external networks 125, such as the Internet. The EPC 120 caninclude a mobility management entity (MME). The MME can be the maincontrol element in the EPC 120 responsible for the functionalities, suchas the control plane functions related to subscriber and sessionmanagement.

The eNB base stations 115 communicate directly with the wireless device105. The wireless device 105 can be a cellular phone, personal digitalassistant (PDA), smartphone, laptop, tablet computer, or other wirelesscommunications device. Further, wireless devices 105 can include pagers,portable computers, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, one ormore hardware-based processors within devices, or any other suitableprocessing devices capable of communicating information using a radiotechnology. The wireless device 105 can communicate directly with aserving base station to receive service when the wireless device 105 isoperated within the cell associated with the corresponding servingstation. Wireless device 105 can also receive radio signals from basestations neighboring the serving base station. Once a wirelessconnection is established, the wireless device 105 generates requestsand responses, or otherwise communicates with the EPC 120 and theexternal network 125 via one or more eNB base stations 115.

Before a wireless connection can be established, the wireless device 105should detect the presence of a base station 115. Each base station 115sends out one or more corresponding synchronization signals, which maybe detected by the wireless device 105, depending on distance, channelconditions, and the processing activity of the wireless device 105. Oncethe synchronization signals are detected, the wireless device 105 canengage in synchronous communication with a base station 115, wheredownlink (from the base station 115 to the wireless device 105) anduplink (from the wireless device 105 to the base station 115)communications are transmitted during portions of time that arescheduled for those communications. For example, in LTE, the scheduledportions include frames and subframes.

The wireless device 105 can receive radio frequency (RF) signals acrossmany frequency bands, some of which can interfere with each other. Forexample, the wireless device 105 can also receive RF signals fromanother wireless station using a different wireless technology, such asa WiFi access point (AP) 110. The WiFi AP 110 provides access to a localarea network in the vicinity of the wireless device 105 and can alsoprovide access to one or more external networks 130, such as theInternet, which can include some or all of the one or more externalnetworks 125. Moreover, when there is potential interference between thetwo or more wireless communications supported by the wireless device105, the wireless device 105 can mitigate such interference using thesystems and techniques described in this disclosure.

FIG. 1B shows an example of processing hardware for user equipment 150in a wireless communication network. The user equipment 150 can be thewireless device 105 from FIG. 1A and includes transceiver electronicsand processor electronics, such as one or more hardware processors,which can include one or more integrated circuit (IC) devices, thatimplement the systems and techniques presented in this disclosure. Theseelectronics can also include one or more of each of the following:filters, amplifiers, frequency downconverters, and analog-to-digitalconverters. The transceiver electronics send and receive wirelesssignals over one or more antennas 155 a, 155 b. In addition, thetransceiver electronics include two or more radio units.

These radio units can be implemented using one or more modems 160 andone or more controllers 170. As shown in FIG. 1B, the distinct radiounits are represented as radio 165 a and radio 165 b. In someimplementations, a radio unit includes a baseband unit (BBU) and a radiofrequency unit (RFU) to transmit and receive signals. Moreover, in someimplementations, the one or more controllers 170 include one or moreprocessors, which are general purpose programmable hardware, specificpurpose programmable hardware, or both. Thus, the user equipment 150 canalso include memory 175, which can include one or more different memorydevices, and which is configured to store information such as dataand/or instructions. In some implementations, the one or more processorscan include microprocessor units and embedded program code (e.g.,firmware) that effects the techniques described in this disclosure.

In some implementations, user equipment 150 includes dedicated circuitryfor transmitting and dedicated circuitry for receiving. The radios 165a, 165 b can share the antennas 155 a, 155 b ; or the radios 165 a, 165b can each have one or more antennas 155 a, 155 b dedicated for its use.The user equipment 150 can be configured for various wirelesscommunication techniques such as single-input single-output (SISO),multi-input multi-output (MIMO), bit-level combining, and symbol-levelcombining. A MIMO-based wireless communication device can transmit andreceive multiple spatial streams over multiple antennas in each of thetones of an OFDM signal. Moreover, the user equipment 150 can bereferred to as a “transmitter”, a “receiver”, or a “transceiver”, as itboth transmits and receives signals.

The radios 165 a, 165 b (“Radio 1” and “Radio 2” in FIG. 1B) usedifferent wireless communication technologies that can interfere withother. These different wireless communication technologies can includevarious MCT (e.g., LTE), BT, WLAN (e.g., the Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards), and NFCtechnologies. The controller(s) 170 can terminate (e.g., puncture)scheduled portions of time (e.g., subframes) for sending signalcommunications on the first radio 165 a (e.g., an LTE radio) in favor ofreceiving signal communications on the second radio 165 b (e.g., a WLANor BT radio).

In addition, the controller(s) 170 can restrict which of all availablescheduled portions of time for sending signal communications on thefirst radio 165 a are provided for termination based on informationabout types of data transmitted in respective ones of the availablescheduled portions of time. For example, in some implementations, thememory 175 can store puncture pattern search results (PPSR) from a prioroff-line search for patterns based on HARQ processes, and thecontroller(s) 170 can restrict uplink subframes made available forpuncture based on the PPSR stored in the memory 175. Moreover, in someimplementations, the second radio 165 b (e.g., a WLAN or BT radio) canstop or expect a damaged receiving if the first radio 165 a (e.g., anLTE radio) has high priority data to send.

FIG. 2A shows an example of a wireless communication frame 200. In thisexample, the frame 200 is an LTE TDD (Time Division Duplex) framestructure frame with ten subframes 205. This frame structure 200 is theUL-DL configuration 0, where the S subframes provide the transition froma DL subframe to a UL subframe and include three parts: DwPTS (downlinkportion), guard period, and UpPTS (uplink portion). In someimplementations, the both the UL subframes and the uplink portion of theS subframes are made available for possible puncture. Note that thisformat is shown as an example only, as the described systems andtechniques can be implemented with LTE FDD (Frequency Division Duplex),as well as other types of frames, subframes, slots, and other types ofportions of time or periods scheduled for transmissions. Regardless ofthe particular format, a portion 210 of the subframes 205 can be madeavailable for possible puncture. For example, the punctureable subframes210 can be determined based on HARQ processes and uplink controlinformation (UCI). In addition, the determination of which subframes topuncture can be based on both prior processing (e.g., the off-linesearch for patterns) and active processing performed during wirelesscommunication.

Further, the determined punctureable subframes 210 may be favored forpuncture by increasing the chances they will be punctured by thewireless device rather than other subframes, or by making the determinedpunctureable subframes 210 the only subframes 205 that are available forpuncture. In some implementations, punctureable subframes 210 aredetermined, and non-punctureable subframes 215 are also determined. Forexample, the non-punctureable subframes 215 can be those scheduled fortransmission of channel state information (CSI) and acknowledgement(ACKs). Failure to send these types of transmissions on the uplink tothe wireless station can cause excessive degradation of performance onthe downlink from the wireless station, and so puncture of thesesubframes should be avoided. In contrast, NACKs from the wireless devicecan be punctured without significant consequence, as the wirelessstation will most often send the non-decoded message again when neitheran ACK nor a NACK are received. Thus, instead of puncturing UL subframesonly based on if these subframes interfere with other coexisted radios,some information about the data transmitted in these subframes can beutilized to minimize the performance degradation on the LTE side.

FIG. 2B shows an example of wireless communication transmissions betweena wireless device 250 and two wireless stations 260, 270. The wirelessdevice 250 includes one or more processors 252 and memory 254, which canbe used to keep track of HARQ processes. In this example, the wirelessdevice 250 uses HARQ for retransmission. However, other retransmissionrequest protocols can be used.

HARQ is designed to ensure correct reception by retransmission oftransport blocks (i.e., data packets) that have been transmitted buterroneously received. Acknowledgement (ACK) or negative acknowledgement(NACK) signaling from the receiver to the transmitter providesnotification of whether or not the reception was successful. In theexample shown in FIG. 2B, the first station 260 (e.g., a cell networkbase station) exchanges wireless communications 265 with the wirelessdevice 250, and HARQ processing is used to keep track of whichtransmissions are successful and which need to be retransmitted.

An initial transmission for HARQ process #i is sent from the device 250to the station 260. The HARQ process number can be tracked by packet ortime, and multiple numbers of HARQ processes can be tracked. Thus, aninitial transmission for HARQ process #j is also sent from the device250 to the station 260 before any ACK or NACK is received for process#i. Each different HARQ process number can have different time oftransmission and reception scheduling and can have different content(e.g., a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) communication or a VoiceOver Internet Protocol (VOIP) communication) or the same content, (e.g.,a large packet that has been broken up into pieces).

In the example shown, the station 260 doesn't successfully receiveprocess #i, but does successfully receive process #j. Thus, the station260 sends a NACK for process #i and an ACK for process #j. If the device250 successfully receives both the ACK and the NACK, the device 250 willsend a retransmission for process #i, and the device 250 will schedule anew transmission for different data using HARQ process #j. Of course,other HARQ processes can also be scheduled, such as an initialtransmission for HARQ process #k.

The wireless device 250 will have records showing what data will betransmitted in which subframes, including for example, the differentHARQ processes for LTE UL subframes. This information can be used todetermine which HARQ processes data can be thrown away, in favor ofreceiving a communication 275 from the second wireless station 270(e.g., WiFi AP and/or BT device), without significant consequence. Inaddition to the HARQ processes relating to uplink data being transmittedfrom the wireless device 250 to the first station 260, there are alsoHARQ processes relating to downlink data being transmitted from thefirst station 260 to the wireless device 250. Looking at FIG. 2B, thissituation can be visualized by reversing the directions of the wirelesscommunications exchanges 265 (with time still running in the samedirection). In such a situation, as noted above, for process #i, sendingof the NACK (from the wireless device 250 to the first station 260) maybe treated as unnecessary since the station 260 will likely send theretransmission for process #i when neither an ACK nor a NACK is receivedfor that HARQ process.

An LTE UE modem has chances to retransmit data for each HARQ process ifeNB does not decode correctly what the UE transmitted. Withoutcooperation from eNB, the LTE UE can take advantage of thisretransmission and autonomously not use all the opportunities, i.e.,drop some UL subframe transmission from the same HARQ process. Thisallows other radios to receive in such subframes if these subframes arethe only reception chances for other radios. Although this UE autonomousmethod can cause UL throughput to decrease, it is an inexpensivesolution for addressing the issue of interference between coexistedradios in a wireless device.

In addition, it may be desirable to distribute the UL dropping intodifferent HARQ retransmissions/processes. Since UL transmission issynchronous, which subframe belongs to which HARQ process is knownbeforehand. The wireless device 250 will have records indicating when totransmit for a given HARQ process, in which downlink subframe theACK/NACK from the first station 260 should be received, and if a NACK isreceived, which next subframe should be used to retransmit the UL data.Using this information, puncture of UL subframes evenly among differentHARQ processes can be implemented. In other words, the puncturing can bedistributed across retransmission processes, which may therebydistributed the puncturing across different data sets being sent fromdevice 250 to station 260.

In addition, for a given coexistence implementation, off-line extensivesearch can be used to find puncture patterns based on HARQ processes. Abase puncture pattern for which subframes to puncture can be determinedbefore the wireless device 250 starts working. The off-line search canbe used to find the optimum pattern based on the application scenario.Note that the coexistence of radios might have different applicationscenarios in various implementations. For example, LTE UE in thewireless device 250 might receive voice data from an LTE base station260, and then BT UE in the wireless device 250 might use BT headphones270 to provide hands free operation of the wireless device 250. Asanother example, LTE UE in the wireless device 250 might receive voicedata from an LTE base station 260 while also downloading data via a WiFiAP 270.

Based on different application scenarios, a search can be done to findthe best, different starting puncture patterns for each respectiveapplication scenario. For example, for a first application, it may bedetermined that one or two out of a fixed number of subframes arepuncturable, but the rest subframes are not; whereas for anotherapplication, it may be determined that only the first subframe of eachframe is puncturable. In addition, the puncture patterns can vary withthe type of the second radio at issue. For example, with LTE and BT, itmay be preferable to give BT a near 100% change of receiving its data,and so a HARQ pattern can be determined for this, but then the wirelessdevice could back off from keeping reception perfect for BT, as neededbased on operating conditions.

Results of such puncture pattern searching can be stored in memory 254for use by the wireless device 250 during operation. Note that the bestpuncture patterns can occur when timing offset between LTE and coexistedradios are within certain ranges. However, accurate time synchronizationand/or frame alignment between different radios may not be necessary.For example, BT and LTE have different clock rates, BT has slots whereasLTE has subframes, and the duration of these are different. Thus, the BTslot boundary and the LTE subframe boundary may not align perfectlytogether. Nonetheless, it has been found that even when the scheduledtime portions of the respective different radios are not aligned,puncture patterns that work can be identified. Moreover, some of thebest puncture patterns can happen without perfect alignment. Forexample, the offset between the scheduled time portions of therespective different radios may be 0.3 ms, and in this case the puncturerate for LTE might be the smallest one.

FIG. 3A is a flowchart showing an example of uplink period puncture forfirst-type wireless communications (e.g., LTE communications) in favorof second-type wireless communications (e.g., WiFi or BTcommunications). At 300, a single device, which includes two or morecoexisting radios, sends data (using a first radio of the two or moreradios) in uplink periods (e.g., LTE subframes) designated for the firstradio communicating with a first station. This data can include userdata (e.g., voice data sent to an LTE base station), control data (e.g.,LTE channel state information), or both.

At 305, a proper subset of uplink periods designated for the first radiocommunicating with the first station can be determined based on HARQprocesses information and uplink control information (UCI). The UCI caninclude channel state information (CSI) and ACK/NACK information. Insome implementation, this determination can be based on retransmissionrequest processes, such as HARQ processes, generally. In someimplementation, this determination can be performed in advance of thesending of data by the operating device, such as by an off-line searchperformed to find one or more proper subsets (e.g., puncture patterns)for one or more application scenarios.

At 310, puncture of the proper subset of uplink periods is favored overremaining uplink periods designated for the first radio communicatingwith the first station. This can involve increasing the likelihood thatthe uplink periods in the proper subset will be punctured over theremaining uplink periods, but the remaining uplink periods (or at leastsome of them) may still be punctured. Thus, the uplink periods can beplaced into multiple groups for different treatment with respect topuncture (e.g., a first group that is preferred for puncture, a secondgroup that may be punctured, and a third group that may not bepunctured). Alternatively, this favoring of the proper subset caninvolve making only uplink periods in the proper subset available forpuncture. Moreover, the favoring at 310 can involve evenly distributingpuncture of the uplink periods among different processes (e.g.,different HARQ processes).

At 315, one or more of the proper subset of uplink periods are selectedfor puncture. This selection can be governed by various factors invarious implementations. For example, the selection can be based onpriority information relating to the wireless communications, such asselecting uplink periods from the proper subset to puncture when thereis some critical information that must be received by a second radio ofthe two or more radios in the single device. As another example, uplinkperiods from the proper subset can be randomly punctured to allow thesecond radio to receive in these periods. Moreover, the number of uplinkperiods to puncture can be varied based on information regarding thenature of the wireless communications with the first radio and thenature of the wireless communications with the second radio.

In some implementations, the two or more of the determining at 305, thefavoring at 310, and the selecting at 315 can be merged into a singleoperation. These and other systems and methods described herein can begenerally understood as algorithmic implementations for restrictingwhich of the uplink periods used between the single device (e.g., asmartphone) and the first station (e.g., an LTE base station) areavailable for puncture, in favor of reception from a second station(e.g., a WiFi AP), based on information about types of data transmittedin respective ones of the uplink periods used between the single deviceand the first station.

In some implementations, the single device can restrict the uplinkperiods that are available for puncture by, without cooperation from thefirst station, not using all retransmission opportunities in aretransmission request protocol between the device and the first stationusing the first radio. In some implementations, the single device canrestrict the uplink periods that are available for puncture to evenlydistribute puncture of the uplink subframes among different HARQprocesses. In some implementations, the single device can restrict theuplink periods that are available for puncture based on UCI to reducedownlink performance degradation of communications from the firststation to the first radio. In any case, at 320, data is received from asecond station using the second radio during the one or more punctureduplink periods.

FIG. 3B is a flowchart showing an example of restricting uplink periodsmade available for puncture. At 350, a check can be made for any prioroff-line search results for patterns to be used in uplink periodpuncture. These patterns can be based on HARQ processes, as noted above.At 355, such pattern data, which indicates a proper subset of uplinkperiods, can be retrieved for use in the on-line operations of thedevice.

At 360, the single device autonomously selects first radioretransmission opportunities to drop in favor of reception on the secondradio. By not using all retransmission opportunities in a retransmissionrequest protocol (e.g., HARQ) between the single device and the firststation using the first radio, performance for the first radio isdegraded slightly in favor of reception on the second radio.

At 365, a check can be made regarding any potential downlink performancedegradation caused by uplink period puncture. This can be done during aprevious off-line search or actively during wireless device operation.At 370, such downlink performance degradation can be reduced byexcluding uplink periods used for CSI and ACK messages from the propersubset of uplink periods available for puncture. This UCI is importantfor downlink performance and should not be dropped. However, some otherUCI (e.g., NACK) that is related to downlink receiving need not betransmitted, and this non-transmission should not have a significantimpact on downlink performance. Finally, at 380, uplink periods of thefirst radio are punctured, and data is received on the second radioduring the punctured uplink periods.

A few embodiments have been described in detail above, and variousmodifications are possible. The disclosed subject matter, including thefunctional operations described in this specification, can beimplemented in electronic circuitry, computer hardware, firmware,software, or in combinations of them, such as the structural meansdisclosed in this specification and structural equivalents thereof,including potentially a program operable to cause one or more dataprocessing apparatus to perform the operations described (such as aprogram encoded in a computer-readable medium, which can be a memorydevice, a storage device, a machine-readable storage substrate, or otherphysical, machine-readable medium, or a combination of one or more ofthem).

The term “data processing apparatus” encompasses all apparatus, devices,and machines for processing data, including by way of example aprogrammable processor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers.The apparatus can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates anexecution environment for the computer program in question, e.g., codethat constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a databasemanagement system, an operating system, or a combination of one or moreof them.

A program (also known as a computer program, software, softwareapplication, script, or code) can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, or declarative orprocedural languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as astand alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unitsuitable for use in a computing environment. A program does notnecessarily correspond to a file in a file system. A program can bestored in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g.,one or more scripts stored in a markup language document), in a singlefile dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinatedfiles (e.g., files that store one or more modules, sub programs, orportions of code). A program can be deployed to be executed on onecomputer or on multiple computers that are located at one site ordistributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communicationnetwork.

While this specification contains many specifics, these should not beconstrued as limitations on the scope of what may be claimed, but ratheras descriptions of features that may be specific to particularembodiments. Certain features that are described in this specificationin the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented incombination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features thatare described in the context of a single embodiment can also beimplemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitablesubcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above asacting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, oneor more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excisedfrom the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to asubcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the embodiments described above should not be understoodas requiring such separation in all embodiments.

Other embodiments fall within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device comprising: a first radio configured tocommunicate wirelessly with a first station in accordance with a firstwireless communication technology; a second radio configured tocommunicate wirelessly with a second station in accordance with a secondwireless communication technology; a controller configured to (i)terminate scheduled portions of time for sending communications from thefirst radio to the first station in favor of receiving communicationsfrom the second station to the second radio and (ii) restrict which ofall available scheduled portions of time for sending communications fromthe first radio to the first station are provided for termination basedon information about types of data transmitted in respective ones of theavailable scheduled portions of time.
 2. The device of claim 1, whereinthe information comprises hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)processes and uplink control information (UCI).
 3. The device of claim1, wherein the controller is configured to restrict the scheduledportions of time available for termination by, without cooperation fromthe first station, not using all retransmission opportunities in aretransmission request protocol between the device and the first stationusing the first radio.
 4. The device of claim 1, wherein the controlleris configured to restrict the scheduled portions of time available fortermination based on HARQ processes.
 5. The device of claim 4, whereinthe first wireless communication technology is an LTE (Long-TermEvolution) wireless communication technology.
 6. The device of claim 4,wherein the available scheduled portions of time are subframes.
 7. Thedevice of claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to restrictuplink subframes made available for puncture to evenly distributepuncture of the uplink subframes among different HARQ processes.
 8. Thedevice of claim 6, comprising a memory, wherein the controller isconfigured to restrict uplink subframes made available for puncturebased on results stored in the memory, the results being of a prioroff-line search for puncture patterns based on HARQ processes.
 9. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the information comprises uplink controlinformation (UCI), and the controller is configured to restrict thescheduled portions of time available for termination based on the UCI toreduce downlink performance degradation of communications from the firststation to the first radio.
 10. The device of claim 9, wherein thecontroller is configured to exclude periods from the scheduled portionsof time made available for termination in favor of receivingcommunications from the second station to the second radio, wherein theexcluded periods comprise all periods scheduled for transmission ofacknowledgements (ACKs) from the first radio to the first station and atleast a portion of periods scheduled for transmission of channel stateinformation (CSI).
 11. A method performed for two or more radioscoexisting in a single communications device, the method comprising:sending, by the single device using a first radio of the two or moreradios, data in uplink periods designated for the first radiocommunicating with a first station; determining, based on uplink controlinformation for the first radio, a proper subset of uplink periodsdesignated for the first radio communicating with the first station;favoring puncture of the proper subset of uplink periods over remaininguplink periods designated for the first radio communicating with thefirst station; selecting, by the single device, one or more of theproper subset of uplink periods for puncture; and receiving, by thesingle device using a second radio of the two or more radios, data froma second station during the one or more punctured uplink periods. 12.The method of claim 11, wherein the determining comprises determiningthe proper subset based at least in part on retransmission requestprocesses.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining comprisesautonomously, by the single device, not using all retransmissionopportunities in a retransmission request protocol between the singledevice and the first station using the first radio.
 14. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the uplink periods are uplink subframes, and thefavoring comprises evenly distributing puncture of the uplink subframesamong different hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes. 15.The method of claim 11, wherein the determining comprises retrieving theproper subset, which is a result of off-line searching for puncturepatterns based on hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes, andthe favoring comprises making only uplink periods in the proper subsetavailable for puncture.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the favoringcomprises reducing downlink performance degradation of communicationsfrom the first station to the first radio resulting from puncture ofuplink periods.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the favoringcomprises excluding from being available for puncture (i) all uplinkperiods used for acknowledgements (ACKs) from the first radio to thefirst station, and (ii) at least a portion of uplink periods used forchannel state information (CSI).
 18. A system comprising: a base stationconfigured to wirelessly communicate with a first set of mobile devices,including a given mobile device; an access point configured towirelessly communicate with a second set of mobile devices, includingthe given mobile device; and the given mobile device comprisingcoexisting radios configured to communicate with the base station andthe access point using respective, different wireless communicationtechnologies, and means for restricting which uplink periods usedbetween the given mobile device and the base station are available forpuncture, in favor of reception from the access point, based oninformation about types of data transmitted in respective ones of theuplink periods used between the given mobile device and the basestation.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the information compriseshybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes and uplink controlinformation (UCI).
 20. The system of claim 18, wherein the wirelesscommunication technologies are an LTE (Long-Term Evolution) wirelesscommunication technology and a Bluetooth wireless communicationtechnology, respectively.